Railway car construction



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 2l, 1932 m .mwN

May 19; 1936- G. G. GILPIN RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed Mar-oh 2l, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l' Har/p r Aorne Patented May 19, 1936 UNITED STATES 2,041, ilf

PATENT GFFICE RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside, Ill., assignor to Union Metal Products Company, Chicago, Ill., a cor- The construction relates to railway cars, particularly the open topl car, that is, hopper or gondola cars wherein the side walls form trusses or girders to carry a part of the load to the body bolsters.

The object of the invention is to provide a side wall which not only performs the function of a girder, but is so arranged to obtain approximately the maximum cubical capacity of the car within a given width and height thereof, and a further object is to provide a post or strut between the top and bottom chords of the girder, which strut is provided by a new and novel arrangement and formation of the side wall sheets or web members of the girder in combination with a cover plate, which construction is hereinafter described. The major part of the central portion of each wall sheet is bulged outwardly to increase the cubical capacity of the car and the bulged portions of adjacent sheets are secured together (preferably by a cover plate or stripl of metal) to form a vertical beam between the chords. Such cover plates are preferably formed to provide stiffeners between the adjacent chord and the bulged central portion and to provide a strut between the upper and lower chords.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stiffening means between the struts and the adjacent chord of the girder.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a wall for a railway car which can be made of flat metallic sheets and wherein the wall sheets and cover plates are so shaped that they can be formed between reciprocating dies in a press.

In the drawings:

Fig. l shows a side elevatio-n of a typical railway car incorporating my improvements.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section on line 8 6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. '7 is an enlarged section on line 1 1 of Fig.A 1.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one end of the cover plate.

The side wall or girder of the railway car shown in Fig. l comprises an upper chord 2 and lower chord 3, and wall sheets 4 forming the web of the girder. The girder extends between the bolsters 5, which bolsters transmit the load to the 55' trucks.

1932, Serial No. 600,209

(Cl. 10S- 249) The top chord 2 is preferably a rolled beam of angular section having a horizontal portion 8 and a vertical portion 9. The lower chord 3 is also preferably a rolled beam of angular section having a horizontal portion l l and a vertical portion l2. The wall sheets l are secured to the vertical portions (ll-l2) of the upper chord and lower chord, respectively, through their end marginal portions I5 l5. The central or main portion I8 of each wall sheet is positioned in a spaced apart plane from the end marginal portions l5 l6 and connected thereto by an upper sloping web portion 20 and a lower sloping web portion 22, thus the cubical capacity of the car is increased.

The vertical web portions 24 of the wall sheets merge into the vertical or side marginal portions l25 and such vertical side marginal portions 25 of adjacent sheets are secured together, as shown in Fig. 6. A cover plate 36 spans the difference between the adjacent webs 24 and overlaps and is secured to the central portions i8 of adjacent wall sheets to form a box girder construction, as shown in Fig. 6. The cover plate is preferably extended and secured to the upper (2) and lower (3) chords, respectively. This arrangement forms a very strong strut between the upper and lower chords and also forms a very strong vertical beam against the tendency of the lading to bulge the side walls and also makes a very light and inexpensive structure.

One end of the cover plate (or preferably both ends thereof) is folded to form a corrugation 32 with outwardly extending flanges 33, which flanges are preferably secured to the adjacent chord and also preferably secured to the upper web portions 20 of the wall sheets, as shown at 34 in Figs. 2 and '7. This corrugation 32 makes a very strong structure between the upper inclined web 20 of the wall sheet and the topi chord 2, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and also between the lower inclined web 22 of the wall kplate and the bottom chord. 3, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The upper corrugation, the lower corrugations and the vertical webs 24 of the wall sheet all combine tomake a very strongstrut and/or beam between the top and the upper and lower chords of the girder.

In hopper cars, such as shown in the drawings,

the body bolster 5 extends vertically from the bottom of the sloping floor 40 to the bottom of the side girder (4l) and the lower sloping web- 42 of the wall sheets adjacent the sloping floor, are formed substantially parallel to the sloping floor. The cover plate 44 is secured to the sloping web 42 by the rivet 45 and the corrugation 46 extends from the sloping web to the lower chord 3.

The end side sheet 50 is provided with an end portion 5I between the end wall 52 of the car and the vertical web 53 to accomodate the ladder rungs 54.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A wall for a railway car comprising a longitudinally extending frame member, wall sheets, each sheet having a side marginal portion, an end marginal portion, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from said marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, said end marginal portions being secured to said frame member and said side marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets` one end of the cover plate folded to form a corrugation with outwardly extending flanges which are secured to said frame member.

2. A wall for a railway car comprising a longitudinally extending frame member, wall sheets, each sheet having a side marginal portion, an end marginal portion, a central portion in a. spaced apart plane from said marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, said end marginal por tion being secured to said frame member and said side marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets, one end of the cover plate folded to form a corrugation with outwardly extending flanges which are secured to said frame member and to the webs of adjacent wall sheets.

3. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each sheet having a marginal portion, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from the marginal portion with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portion, the upper and lower portions of each sheet secured to the adjacent chord and the vertical margins of adjacent sheets secured together, and a cover plate overlapping and secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets, each end of the cover plate folded to form a corrugation with outwardly extending flanges which are secured to the upper and lower chords, respectively, and to the webs of the adjacent wall sheets.

4. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each sheet having a side marginal portion, end marginal portions, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from said marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, said end marginal portions being secured to said chords respectively and said side marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets, each end of the cover plate folded to form a corrugation with outwardly extending anges which are secured to said chords respectively.

5. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each of said wall sheets having a uniplanar perimeter forming the marginal portion thereof and a central portion in a spaced apart plane from said marginal portion with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portion, the vertical parts of the marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate conforming to the contour of the central portions and marginal portions of the wall sheets, said cover plate being secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets and the upper and lower chords respectively.

6. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each of said wall sheets having a uniplanar perimeter forming the marginal portion thereof and a central portion in a spaced apart plane from said marginal portion with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portion, the vertical parts of the marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate conforming to the contour of the central portions, webs and marginal portions of the wall sheets, said cover plate being secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets, webs and the upper and lower chords respectively.

7. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each sheet having upper, lower and side marginal portions in substantially the same plane, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from the marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, the part of the web adjacent said upper marginal portion merging thereinto adjacent the upper chord and the part of the web adjacent said lower marginal portion merging thereinto adjacent the lower chord, the vertical margins of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate conforming to the contour of the central portions, webs and marginal portions of the wall sheets, said cover plate being secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets and the upper and lower chords respectively.

8. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, wall sheets, each sheet having upper, lower and side marginal portions in substantially the same plane, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from the marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, the part of the web adjacent said upper marginal portion merging thereinto adjacent the upper chord and the part of the web adjacent said lower marginal portion merging thereinto adjacent the lower chord, the vertical margins of adjacent sheets being secured together, a cover plate conforming to the contour of the central portions, webs and marginal portions of the wall sheets, said cover plate being secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets and the upper and lower chords respectively, and means to stiffen the ends of the cover plate adjacent said webs and said chords.

9. A wall for a railway car comprising a longitudinally extending frame member, wall sheets, each sheet having a side marginal' portion, an end marginal portion, a central portion in a spaced apart plane from said marginal portions with a web connecting the central portion and the marginal portions, said end marginal portion being secured to said frame member and said side marginal portions of adjacent sheets being secured together, and a cover plate secured to the central portions of adjacent sheets, one end of the cover plate folded to form a corrugation overlapping said frame member with outwardly extending flanges which are secured to said frame member.

10. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, a plurality of wall sheets, each sheet having an upper marginal| portion secured to the upper chord, a lower marginal portion secured to the lower chord and side marginal portions secured to the side marginal portions of the adjacent sheets, the central portion of each sheet between the chords and between the side marginal portions thereof being bulged outwardly so as to increase the cubical capacity of the car, the bulged portions of adjacent wall sheets being in close proximity and secured together to form a vertical beam between Isaid chords.

11. A Wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, a plurality of Wall sheets, each sheet having an upper marginal portion secured to the upper chord, a lower marginal portion secured to the lower chord and side marginal portions secured to the side marginal portions of the adjacent sheets, the central portion of each sheet between the chords and between the side marginal portions thereof being bulged outwardly so as to increase the cubical capacity of the car, the bulged portions of adjacent wall sheets being in close proximity and secured together by a cover plate to form a vertical beam between said chords, said cover plates being formed adjacent their opposite ends to form stiffeners between the adjacent chord and the said bulged central portions whereby a strut is provided between said chords.

12. A wall for a railway car comprising an upper chord, a lower chord, a plurality of wall sheets, each sheet having an upper marginal portion secured to the upper chord, a lower marginal Vportion secured to the lower chord and side marginal portions joined to the side marginal portions of the adjacent sheets, the central| portion of each sheet between the chords and between the side marginal portions thereof being bulged outwardly so as to increase the cubical capacity of the car, said central portion being connected to said marginal portions by webs, and means to secure the bulged portions of adjacent wall sheets together whereby said means, said webs and the joined together side marginal portions form a. vertical beam between said chords, said means provided with stiffeners between the adjacent chord and the said bulged central portions whereby a strut is provided between said chords.

GARTH G. GILPIN. 

